Team India are taking on Afghanistan at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi in the first T20I of the three-match series. Although the series is being held in India, Afghanistan are the designated hosts. They are playing the series in India due to security concerns and political instability back home.

Lead pacer Jasprit Bumrah is back for the T20Is against Afghanistan after recovering from a left knee injury he suffered during the tour of England. All-rounders Nitish Kumar Reddy and Washington Sundar are also back, but pacer Harshit Rana was ruled out after picking up a fresh injury. He has been replaced in the squad by Yash Thakur.

After a horror start to his captaincy stint in Ireland and England, Shreyas Iyer registered a 3-0 win against Zimbabwe in Harare. He will be looking forward to yet another impactful performance from the team against Afghanistan.

Today’s AFG vs IND toss result

India have won the toss and have opted to bowl first. Shreyas Iyer said:

“Whenever you come to Delhi, you know what the pitch has got to offer, it usually is a bowl first wicket.”

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not in the playing XI for India. Afghanistan have left out experienced pacer Naveen-ul-Haq.

AFG vs IND – Today’s match playing XIs

Afghanistan: Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (w), Sediqullah Atal, Darwish Rasooli, Azmatullah Omarzai, Gulbadin Naib, Mohammad Nabi, Rashid Khan, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Noor Ahmad, Fazalhaq Farooqi

India: Sanju Samson (w), Abhishek Sharma, Ishan Kishan, Shreyas Iyer (c), Tilak Varma, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Arshdeep Singh, Jasprit Bumrah, Varun Chakaravarthy

Today’s AFG vs IND pitch report

“This particular surface is hard, there is some grass cover of course, but that is to hold the wicket together. It’s definitely not going to be slow and low. If spinners put in the revs on the ball, they will get purchase. 170-180 should be a good total to defend.” – Nikhil Chopra

Today’s AFG vs IND match complete players list

Afghanistan squad: Ibrahim Zadran (c), Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), Sediqullah Atal, Azmatullah Omarzai, Noor Rahman (wk), Darwish Rasooli, Gulbadin Naib, Rashid Khan, Mohammad Nabi, Nangyal Kharoti, Noor Ahmad, Mujeeb Ur Rahman, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Abdullah Ahmadzai

India squad: Abhishek Sharma, Sanju Samson (wk), Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Shreyas Iyer (c), Ishan Kishan (wk), Tilak Varma (vc), Shivam Dube, Axar Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Arshdeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar, Ravi Bishnoi, Yash Thakur

AFG vs IND – Today’s match umpires

Umpires: Ahmad Shah Pakteen, Farooq Khan

Third umpire: Izatullah Safi

Match Referee: Dean Cosker